Arrival in China!!
28th July 2008, NewsArrived in Beijing at last and i type this from the amazing Olympic Village. I am sorry Sydney and Athens, but this Olympic Village is truly amazing. Currently, we are spending our first day orientation ourselves and trying to stay awake until nightfall. Tomorrow morning, we head to the rowing venuue, to prepare our boat and go for our first paddle on the Shunyi Regatta Course.
The humidity and pollution were clearly evident when we stepped outside the airport, but we are not too bothered. We have been training in a humid environment for weeks now in Italy and the pollution....well, I have plenty of practice having tailgated buses from my apartment in Dublin into university every day, and those who know Dublin Bus will know that it was the perfect training for the Olympics in Beijing!
The village here is like the dream town. The volunteers are plentiful and always smiling and helpful. The apartments would put most luxury apartments in Dublin to shame! WE are sharing our apartment with the swimmer Andrew Bree, and the Badminton player Scott Evans. I know Andrew from a race we both participated in together in Rio a few years back.
Before i left Ireland i had the pleasure of going to see my friend Juliet Turner perform in Whelans as part of her "People have names" tour. Its always amazing to see somebody you know in a totally different light. I have shared time with Juliet, drinking coffees, having dinner and talking about anything and everything, but never saw her performing LIVE. It was quite a nice experience seeing how she interacted with the crowd in her usual down to earth way and at the same time perform her songs so intensely. She was an example of how we should all be. Down to earth, but an intense performer.....it was nice to see before i went to Olympics.
I will be in touch again soon......
G